In the Adopted Land: Abused Immigrant Women and the Criminal Justice System

In the Adopted Land: Abused Immigrant Women and the Criminal Justice System

Synopsis

This volume details the experiences of Vietnamese immigrant women who have experienced intimate violence in the United States. It focuses on the diversity of their responses to abuse and their various encounters with the criminal justice system and victim service agencies. Also revealed are the effects of traditional culture, acculturation, and economic adaptation on the participation of these women as witnesses in the criminal justice process. It points to the roles of gender, economic power, legal status, and the organizational structure of the criminal justice system in shaping the experiences of women charged with domestic violence. The limitations of the criminal justice are exposed when it fails to provide abused women with long-term protection, forces women to choose between personal safety and family life, and allows domestic violence laws to reinforce male domination.